Packed SUV flips, killing five kids on way to Texas water park
(CNN) -- Five children, ages two to 13, died when an SUV they were riding in blew a tire and crashed on a Texas highway, police said.
A dozen people were packed into the 2003 GMC Envoy on Monday, August 20th on the way to a family outing at Splash Kingdom water park in Canton, Texas, according to Trooper Jean Dark of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Driver Federico Acuna lost control when the right rear tire exploded on Interstate 20 just outside Canton in Van Zandt County on Monday afternoon, Dark said. Acuna apparently overcorrected and the vehicle flipped, she said.
None of the children who died was wearing a seat belt, Dark said.
While no charges have been filed against Acuna, who was wearing his seat belt and wasn't injured, there is the potential for five charges of criminally negligent homicide, Dark said.
Two-year-old Judith Jaimes and 13-year-old Rosvaelia Jaimes were pronounced dead at the scene. Saideth Acuna, six, Omar Jaimes, seven, and Ulisa Acuna, three, died at hospitals, Dark said.
Three boys, ages five, nine and 10, were injured, as were two adult women, Dark said.
A 15-year-old girl who was wearing a seat belt was not hurt.